Microsoft SCORCH lights an automated path to more efficiency

Most IT staffs rely on scripts or tools to handle day-to-day tasks but often depend on manual steps that might be overlooked. It's a tedious, error-prone system. IT administrators tackle a range of tasks on a routine basis: They create new user accounts, provision servers and users, assign new resources, integrate assets from mergers or acquisitions, delete users or change roles and perform countless other tasks.

Microsoft SCORCH provides the functionality needed to build, test, implement and manage automation through the use of runbooks or automated procedures.

Microsoft System Center Orchestrator (SCORCH) is a software tool for Microsoft Windows environments designed to organize and automate important IT-related jobs. Orchestrating important IT and business processes can ensure consistency and eliminate errors or oversights, while automation speeds completion and improves IT efficiency.

Microsoft SCORCH provides the functionality needed to build, test, implement and manage automation through the use of runbooks or automated procedures. Various standard runbooks are available by default for common tasks and monitoring, and the IT staff can develop new runbooks tailored to their environment. The data developed in one runbook is available to other runbooks, so Microsoft SCORCH can support a high level of autonomous decision-making, such as launching other runbooks if requisite conditions are met. Microsoft SCORCH also provides a common platform for IT-related business processes, allowing one tool to work across multiple departments. This enables standard practices in the organization to reduce duplicate efforts, while gaining consistent results.

SCORCH integrates with other tools -- such as System Center, other Microsoft tools as well as numerous third-party products. The orchestrator's runbook system controls these disparate tools centrally. Orchestrator integration packs bring added features and functionality to Microsoft SCORCH, such as adding orchestration capabilities to third-party storage systems.

In addition to these integration packs, Microsoft SCORCH is highly extensible through custom integrations via REST-based web services. These services can start and stop runbooks while gathering data and producing reports in an Open Data protocol format. This extensibility allows SCORCH to serve in almost any environment.